Locker's a great kid, but a great NFL quarterback? No way

Published 10:03 pm, Tuesday, April 26, 2011

For the past three months on "The Kevin Calabro Show" on 710 ESPN Seattle, we have been talking about Jake Locker almost every day, attempting to size up his NFL draft status like everyone else.

You'll hear from one draft expert, such as K.C. Joyner of ESPN.com, that Florida State's Christian Ponder is a better prospect than Locker.

But then you'll hear from others who compare Locker to Aaron Rodgers while a former scout, Dave Razzano, goes way, way out there, telling Yahoo's Mike Silver that the Husky quarterback reminds him of Brett Favre. Razzano even thinks that Carolina should take Locker over Cam Newton with the No. 1 pick overall.

Locker has been dissected like a frog in a high school science lab, and frankly, as much as I love the kid, I'm sick of talking about him. Knowing Locker, I'm guessing he's sick of everyone talking about him too.

We had him on the show a couple of weeks ago, and I think he was relieved that the entire eight-minute interview did not one single time mention the word "accuracy" with any connotations of "lack thereof" attached to it.

I naturally asked the most pertinent question of all, wondering how his dog is holding up through all of this stuff. Locker reported that Ten, his chocolate Lab, is doing fine. He told us that as soon as he was done with the interview, he was going to throw tennis balls for Ten.

We're trying to get Locker for one more interview this week, and if we do, I have no idea what to ask him that he hasn't been asked umpteen times already. I mean, I'm at the point of wondering where Ten hopes his master will be drafted.

I'm guessing Ten would prefer these teams over all of the others:

Minnesota: Land of 10,000 lakes, baby!

San Diego: On the beaches there, he'd be known as Hang Ten.

Cleveland: Could watch Jake from the Dawg Pound and slobber on Mike Holmgren's shorts.

Seattle: Lakefront facility with dock to jump from, dog-friendly coach, and he could chill with John Carlson's poodle, Fred.

I'm also guessing that Ten will be crossing his paws and hoping that Jake is not drafted by Philadelphia for obvious reasons, and Arizona because it's too damn hot and there's not enough water there.

Locker has been asked so many questions and, in typical Jake fashion, he politely answers them all in his "aww shucks" kind of way.

The fact that he's gone from No. 1 on Mel Kiper's Big Board in 2010 to who knows what number now has made Locker the biggest story of the draft. He was on the cover of last week's Sports Illustrated and has been featured on Jon Gruden's Quarterback Camp on ESPN.

I think I established long ago that I think the world of the kid and am thrilled that he's finally leaving Washington so I can go back to rooting against the Huskies 100 percent of the time as opposed to 99.9 percent of the time.

Little-known fact – I actually picked the Huskies to win the Holiday Bowl straight up over Nebraska in a bowl pool and found myself kind-of, sort-of rooting for Jake that night, wanting him to go out a winner. Felt guilty as hell doing it and was glad that no one was in my Cannon Beach hotel room to see it, but I ended up winning the bowl pool as a direct result of Washington's victory in San Diego.

As for Locker the person, I love him so much that I wish he'd marry my daughter, but he already has plans to marry someone else's daughter – his wedding with former U-Dub softballer Lauren Greer is scheduled for July 3.

(I'll bet Locker went old-school and asked Greer's dad for permission to marry his daughter. Can you imagine being Greer's dad, hearing that question from Jake Locker? How loud would you have said, "YES"?)

As for Locker the player, I'm in the camp with those who think he'll never be a successful quarterback in the NFL. I base it on those same accuracy and decision-making concerns that have been voiced by those who think he's not first-round worthy.

Thursday night, when it's time for the Seahawks to make their first pick with the 25th choice, I will hope that they trade down or that Locker has already been chosen by another team. I do not want the Seahawks to draft Locker, nor do I want them to draft any other quarterback with that 25th pick.

Why? Imagine if they picked Locker. There would be more pressure and scrutiny in his hometown than he'd find elsewhere.

And what if they chose Christian Ponder or Andy Dalton or Ryan Mallett instead of Locker? Then you might have a Brandon Morrow/Tim Lincecum fiasco like the Mariners did when they opted for the fireballer from Cal over the local kid who has gone on to win two Cy Youngs.

What if Ponder/Dalton/Mallett turned into a bust while Locker became a Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion in Minnesota? Or worse, a Super Bowl champion in Arizona or San Francisco.

Besides, the Seahawks have said they're interested in re-signing Matt Hasselbeck, which would give them a quarterback for two more years, and if they don't, they'd still have Charlie Whitehurst, who's only 28.

Whatever you think about Whitehurst as a starter, GM John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll maintain that the only thing separating Clipboard Jesus from NFL greatness, or at least goodness, is experience.

I get a kick out of all this talk about needing to find the quarterback for the future if this is indeed true about Whitehurst. Again, at 28, Whitehurst could be your starter for the next seven years, so what's the rush to get one of these kids in the draft when they all appear to be flawed?

They should draft an offensive lineman who could help protect Hasselbeck or Whitehurst, and open holes for Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett.

Here's the thing about Locker – for two years, they blamed his lack of accuracy on Tyrone Willingham's offense -- or maybe it was offensive coordinator Tim Lappano or maybe it was the fact that Jake was a young QB who needed time to develop, coming from a Wing-T offense at Ferndale High.

Fine, I was on board with that. Then Steve Sarkisian replaced Paint Dry Ty, and everyone thought that Coach Sark would prepare Jake for the NFL because he had groomed Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Mark Sanchez at USC.

But that didn't happen either. And as for this bogus excuse that Jake couldn't be the quarterback that everyone expected him to be because of his weak supporting cast at Washington, stop it already. If I'm not mistaken, Jeff Tuel had a sorrier cast around him in Pullman, but the WSU QB has turned out to be a better passer than Jake.

But wait just one minute, say the Locker supporters. If Jake is drafted by the right team and gets into the right system, he can become a more accurate thrower in time. Sorry, not buying it – if Locker can't consistently find the windows in college football, what makes you think he'll zip darts to his receivers through much tighter windows in the NFL? Pro cornerbacks are much quicker, faster and craftier than the ones Jake faced at Washington.

I think that rates as a "no duh," but it seems like it's something that's been overlooked, as if Jake is going to magically transform himself in the NFL even as the degree of difficulty dramatically increases.

Locker might be as fine a young man as I've ever been around. He's a great kid, and I'll bet he's a great son and a great friend who will be a great husband, too.